Oh yeah and woo
I was watching Channel V’s One Hit Wonders last night, and one of the videos that popped up was Charles & Eddie’s "Would I Lie To You." Brought on a flashback to 1993, though I don’t really remember much about the song and video’s details. Prior to last night, here is what I recalled about the band and the song: they were a soul duo, featuring a black guy called Charles Pettigrew and a white guy (though apparently Latino, but definitely whiter than Charles) called Eddie Chacon with the type of silky long hair that you want to feed to a blender because it makes him look like a twat. In the song, I don’t remember Eddie contributing anything of significance other than alternately shouting "Oh yeah!" and "Woo!" in a cheesy, faux-soul style during the choruses.
For some reason, you start to pay attention to the small details when you get older. So here’s what I learnt from a single viewing of the nondescript video over a decade after seeing it repeatedly: Eddie does get to sing a little more than just "Oh yeah!" and "Woo!" The lyrics are rather tacky: "You can read my diary, you’re in every line." Which might seem romantic, but if you think about it and put it down on paper, there’s only so much you can write in a linear fashion with your girlfriend’s name in it without coming off as sick and obsessed.
What happened to Charles & Eddie after this? They released another album in 1995 that flopped, then they split up. Charles passed away from cancer in 2001. Eddie’s still convinced he has a career. Oh yeah.
